This is why James Bond should never be a woman, according to Rachel Weisz

Speculation continues to abound on who’ll be picked as the next James Bond, with many hoping the role will be given to a woman. But Rachel Weisz has other ideas.

Daniel Craig can breath easy – it doesn’t look like his wife is looking to steal his job any time soon.

In fact, it turns out, Rachel Weisz doesn’t even think Craig’s current role, as womanising spy James Bond, should go to a woman at all.

There’s been continued speculation around who’ll take the role after Craig’s final stint in the role – and many people believe that a woman should take it.

Actor Idris Elba, for one, said we should be “interested in having a Bond character other than a male”.

“It could be a woman—could be a black woman, could be a white woman,” he said in an interview with Variety. “Do something different with it. Why not?”

Bond producer Barbara Broccoli told the Daily Mailthat the films “tend to reflect the times, so we always try to push the envelope a little bit… anything is possible” when asked if the character could be female or non-white, and Prime Minister Theresa May said that it was a “great move forward for girl power that there is going to be a female Doctor Who” and that “one day there should be a female James Bond”.

But Weisz disagrees.

Rachel Weisz’s husband Daniel Craig has starred in four James Bond films

Talking to The Telegraph, Weisz praised Bond author Ian Fleming for creating a character “who is particularly male and relates in a particular way to women”.

But she’s not interested in the role herself – because she thinks women should get their own legacy characters.

“Why not create your own story rather than jumping onto the shoulders, and being compared to, all those other male predecessors?” she said.

“Women are really fascinating and interesting and should get their own stories.”

Judi Dench, who starred in several of the films as spy boss M, agrees with Weisz. Asked about the campaign to make James Bond a woman, Dench said “I think it should be a man”. “But who knows,” she added.

There’ll be stiff competition if producers do decide to cast a woman in the role, though, with plenty of stars already expressing their interest in the part – including Gillian Anderson, who tweeted about the role with the hashtag #NextBond after seeing a fan-made poster.

Actress Priyanka Chopra also told COMPLEXthat she was fed up of being told she’d make a great Bond Girl (“I get that all the time. But f**k that – I wanna be Bond!”), and Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke said she would “love to play Jane Bond” – with Leonardo DiCaprio as her leading man, no less.

Craig has already agreed to another James Bond film, so it’ll be a while before a new actor is cast – and only time will tell if the role will go to a woman.

So in the meantime, Hollywood, we do have one message for you: give Gillian Anderson her own badass film franchise already.

Images: Rex Features

Topics

Share this article

Author

Emily Reynolds

Emily Reynolds is a journalist and author based in London. Her first book, A Beginner’s Guide to Losing Your Mind, came out in February 2017 with Hodder & Stoughton. She is currently working on her second.